THE CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 283
an antique timber projection is thrown out as a covered gallery, within which there is
a very large fireplace on the external front of the stone wall, proving, as previously pointed
out, that the timber work is part of the original plan of the building. The first floor
is approached as usual by an outer stair, at the top of which a very beautifully moulded
doorway affords entrance to B stone turnpike, forming the internal communication to the
different floors. A rich double cornice encircles this externally, and beneath it is the
inscription in antique ornamental characters :-SOLI - DE0 * HONOR * ET - GLORIA.
Owing to the protection afforded by the deep mouldings and the timber additions, this
inscription has been safely preserved from injury, and remains nearly as sharp and fresh as
when cut. The character of the letters corresponds with other inscriptions dating early in
the sixteenth century, and the whole building is a very perfect specimen of the best cliss
of mansions at that period. The interior, though described in the titles as having “ a fore
chamber and gallery, a chamber of dais,” &c., has in reality accommodations only of the
very homeliest description, each floor consisting of a simple and moderately-sized single
apartment, subdivided by such temporary wooden partitions as the convenience of later
tenants has suggested. It appears to have been the mansion of John the second son of
Lawrence, fourth Lord Oliphant, an active adherent of Queen Mary. His elder brother,
who is styled Master of Oliphant, joined the Ruthven couspirators in 1582, and perished
shortly afterwards with the vessel and whole crew, when fleeing from the kingdom. The
other tenement, apparently of equal antiquity, and similar in style of construction, though
with fewer noticeable features, adjoins it on the west. It formed, at a somewhat later date,
the residence of Lord Daxid Hay of Belton, to whom that barony was secured in succession
by a charter granted to his father, John, second Earl of Tweeddale, in 1687. The
locality, indeed, appears from the ancient deeds to have been one of honourable resort
down to a comparatively recent period, as knights and men of good family occur among
the occupants during the eighteenth century. The boundaries of the house are defined on
the north “ by the stone tenement of land some time belonging to the Earl of Angus.”
Only a portion of the walls of this noble dwelling now remains, which probably was the
town residence of David, the eighth Earl, and brother of the Regent Morton. At the
latest, it must have formed the mansion of his son Archibald, ninth Earl of Angus, the
last of the Douglases who bore that title. As nephew and ward of the Regent Morton, he
was involved in his fall. After his death he fled to England, where he was honourably
entertained by Queen Elizabeth, and became the friend and confident of Sir Philip Sidney
while writing his Arcadia.‘ He afterwards returned to Scotland, and bore his full
share in the troubles of the time. He died in 1588, the victim, as was believed, of witchcraft.
Godscroft tells that Barbara Napier in Edinburgh was tried and found guilty,
though she escaped execution ; and ‘‘ Anna Simson, a famous witch, is reported to have
confessed at her death that a picture of wax was brought to her, having AD. written on it,
which, as they said to her, did signify Archibald Davidson ; and she, not thinking of the
Earl of Angus, whose name was Archibald Douglas, and might have been called Davidson,
because his father’s name was David, did consecrate, or execrate it after her form,
which, she said, if she had known to have represented him, she would not have done it
1 Hume of Qodscroft’s History of the Doughsea, p. 362.
